\Just Giving have been experiencing server issues that have prevented people from accessing the donation link, please be patient and keep trying the JG)homepageto see when the issue has been resolved! Thank you\)

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The fundraising is for the CHARITY FOUNDED BY EMILIA called SameYou, in partnership with the Stroke Association, which helps young people recovering from brain injuries like the ones she suffered while filming the show.

if you're having trouble donating, try setting the currency to GBP. This should bring up options for Paypal, Apple Pay and Google Pay as well as the regular options for Visa/Delta/Maestro.

you can edit the donation amount - it's not fixed.

you do NOT need to pay the 10% voluntary contribution. that money does NOT go to SameYou - it clearly states that this money goes to Just Giving to continue helping them run their platform.

if you want to know more about how Just Giving works, how funds are transferred etc. all the information you need is on their website.

Also, if you're sharing across other platforms, please use the hashtags #ThankYouEmilia and #WeStandByDaenerys(please read the Entertainment Weekly article to understand the reference)

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FINAL UPDATE:

100k! i think my work here is done. By now everyone knows about the fundraiser and it will remain open for the foreseeable future in case you'd like to keep giving (i know i will!). A spin-off fundraiser for Mencap was started and we've also launched #GoTtoGive in an effort to have our donations matched. Plus Emilia shouted us out again which has given us that little bit more of a push. I will keep updating the main fundraiser page (updates can be found at the bottom) but this post can't handle much more content! We've done a good thing here, but now my watch is ended. Thanks for letting me be a part of this! Now on your best behaviour incase Emilia decides to visit.

~ Sarah aka elle_ellaria

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UPDATE 12: i'm so sorry for all the server issues the website has been experiencing for a prolonged period now, if you're trying to donate but unable all i can ask is that you keep trying! in other disappointing news, People magazine strike AGAIN with their misinformation. Pure incompetence, or malicious intent? Anyway, let's keep pushing this. We're tantalisingly close to 100K, and i'm doing my best behind the scenes to secure some high profile donations.. let's fucking do this freefolk.

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UPDATE 11: okay, lots of news! fundraiser for Kit gaining LOTS of traction, we crossed the $100k mark for Emilia's charity (over £80k!), lots more coverage since Emilia dropped her video, AND.... the mods of this sub decided send some emails to HBO and Warner Media executives, telling them about the fundraiser and letting them know now would be a great time to match the donations! I think this is a great idea and will be emailing them myself as well. At this point, I'd love to see some higher ups, prominent cast & crew members etc. start joining in on the donation drive. To have fans AND creators come together like this would be an amazing show of solidarity at the conclusion of this behemoth series and completely overshadow any other coverage this last season has received. We've already shown how powerful and far-reaching this community is, time & again. I'll leave this one with you..

UPDATE 10: ok when i said i’d update if something special happened i was NOT expecting..that!? Also I wanted to share this article Stephanie from heavy.com just posted. Stephanie was one out of tens, TENS of journalists I reached out to who previously wrote about the petition and the ONLY one who actually took an interest in covering this story. She does a great job conveying the message - please do give it a read! I mentioned Sophie, Kit and the misconception of the fundraiser being an “apology” for the petition. Oh and since People magazine and other outlets keep misrepresenting the intention, I’ve gone ahead and updated the fundraiser description, right slap bang at the top. #NOTANAPOLOGY

And finally, if you’re not in a position to donate, DO NOT FUCKING FEEL BAD. Lots of people comparing the number of donations to the number of upvotes. Lots of cunts. I know what it’s like to count pennies to survive. You’re all doing what you can with your updoots and shares. I’m fucking grateful for all of you. We’ve done a good thing here.

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UPDATE 9: £35,000 (close to 45k in $) in just 5 days!!! amazing feat lads. Well done. It seems like things are winding down now, so let me thank everybody one more time for pushing this fundraiser to where it is. Anyone could have started this fundraiser, it’s all of you who have made it successful. Every donation - no matter how small or seemingly insignificant - every share, every hashtag, every signal boost… every single one made a difference.

The fundraising page will continue to be up - bookmark it! Donations will be transferred by Just Giving directly to SameYou on a weekly basis. Remember there are also links to Lena, Nikolaj, Liam, Kit, Sophie etc.’s charities at the bottom of the page if you also wish to support them too, now or in future.

And for those asking if Emilia has heard about this, she has! SameYou accounts on twitter & IG have been boosting the fundraiser, and the mother of mother of dragons herself has reached out to say thank you & that they’re both thrilled to see Emilia’s story inspire people to engage in the movement for neurorehabilitation.

This will be the final update, until/unless something special happens - so keep an eye out! Mods, I’d appreciate if this could stay pinned just a little while longer. Thanks again for all the support!

UPDATE 8: 32k lads! Shout out to ComicBook NOW! who wrote lovely article on the fundraiser mentioning us but mostly focusing on Emilia's charity & past health struggles. HuffPo have also made a correction on their previous misrepresentation. Well done everyone!

UPDATE 7: We're almost at 29K! There have been people who have donated in the hundreds, and others who dug deep and did they could with a couple of dollars. Grateful for EACH and EVERY one of you. Screenrant, Decider and Digital Spy have all done stories on us. I'm hoping the fundraiser will get a push after the HBO "Last Watch" Documentary airs as well. I'll update again when I have something. ps. fuck olly

UPDATE 6: Fuckinggg..... 25k ? can i just say a quick thanks to both u/dropandgivemenerdy and u/DiamondPup for swooping in early and helping me set up/write the post for the fundraiser when I was struggling with wording, and also thank you to everyone on this sub who has chipped in with their suggestions and feedback, you’ve really helped shape the tone of this campaign. You guys made this happen. Keep it rolling!

UPDATE 5: 23k! And... EW wrote that story on us! The answers were edited down but I think they did a great job conveying the sentiment behind the campaign. I'll post the full list of questions & answers I gave in a comment so you can see what they left and what they decided to take out. Keep sharing! BEST FANS EVAA!

UPDATE 4: We hit 20k in less than 48 hours! Amazing job everyone! Also, some news... Entertainment Weekly have reached out with some questions for an article they plan on doing about the fundraiser! I'll update this post once it's been published. Let's keep this going!

UPDATE 3: We're over 17k! Also the very lovely Dan from Fandomentals reached out to ask a few questions and did a nice little article on us, be sure to check it out!

UPDATE 1: We broke 5k with less than 300 donations. Thank you so much to each and every one of you who donated, upvoted, shared, boosted. I'd love to see this keep building momentum!

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Original post dated 22nd May: ​

Since there's been so much negativity flying around, especially with that petition gaining traction, I thought maybe we could do something really decent that can make a difference in peoples' lives, and show a little love for one castmember in particular.

Incase you weren't aware, Emilia wrote a personal essay for the New Yorker in March about her experience suffering two brain hemorrhages, the first of which happened shortly after wrapping season 1. With that essay she launched her charity SameYou, in aid of increasing neuro-rehabilitation access to young people after brain injury.

Posted below are excerpts from interviews she's given since the finale aired which I found particularly moving, although both are worth reading in full. Bear in mind when you read, D&D did not bother to inform her in advance about Dany's turn. It was a complete shock.

It's clear that Emilia invested much of herself into Dany and in turn drew strength from her when she needed it. The fact that the showrunners did not even care to inform her of her character's turn, let alone write a properly fleshed-out script that did her character (and others!) justice, is unforgivable. They've since scurried away to avoid the backlash they knew was inevitable, but the actors are getting the brunt of it. And I just thought... how wonderful a gesture would it be for them, and for Emilia especially, to see fans of the show coming together in aid of a cause that is so dear to her heart. To really know that we appreciate her and this character she's inhabited for the better part of the last decade.

On a personal note, as someone who suffers from chronic illness, Emilia's portrayal of Daenerys means so much more to me since finding out what she went through. The fact that she stared her mortality in the face and did not give up, did not give in, and was able to come through with such a stellar performance.. is beyond inspiring.

edit from future elle dated 2nd June: the post has gotten massively long so to save space i'm going to just link the articles/interviews that motivated me to start this, rather than posting the excerpts. they'rewellworth reading in full!

I will always love this place, it feels like home and it’s the same with Dany and Thrones, seeing her and her baby dragons always made it feel like home. When Dany died, the show kinda died with her. For some reason, I had little interest in the Dragonpit meeting and seeing what happens with the other characters. It felt... empty without her.

Just donated to Emilia’s foundation. Can i add something in? Nikolaj also began this fund for wildlife (Lion’s share fund), and i know it’s actually more of a funding from corporates, but he’s been so nice to the fandom. We can maybe at least advertise his cause too? He’s big on environmental cause and so passionate about doing something for the planet.

As a young person who recently had brain surgery, I’ll donate.
Two months after my brain surgery, my daughter was born 10 weeks early. She needed a fighting name as she fought to survive. People can talk trash but we named her Daenerys. After 3 months in the hospital beat the odds and came home. She is 5 months old now.
The character of Daenerys Targaryen inspired me through it all so I’ll gladly donate.

My mom lost her first born (a girl) after couple of months because of meningitis infection, she got pregnant again, and she gave birth to a baby girl, 2 years later, I was born. fast-forward 7 months after I was born. My mom woke up to check on my sister, only to find her suffering from fever. they didn't give it a second-thought, she waked my father up and quickly off to the medical center, they presented her to a children's physician and his diagnostic was influenza, and there is NO need for hospital, there is no need to be afraid. They listened to him as he is the health professional, my parents were not well educated especially in medical matters. they went home, slept only to find her laying dead in her bed at 3 years of age (it turned out to be the same disease meningitis ). Can you imagine the shock my parents went through? my mom became paranoid I'm on my way to die too it was only a matter of time, she stopped taking care of me, my aunt got a hold of me for some time until my mom stopped being paranoid about my death... she came to her mind, after some time. This resonance of those unfortunate events can still be heard to this day, 24 years later, she is still paranoid with the doctors, she does not believe any of them, and when they come to some kind of diagnostic, she keeps questioning them, she gets angry very quickly, all because of those shocking events.. in other words those events has shaped her future they changed her a lot.

I know that parents are naturally protective of their children, but my mom she is EXTREMELY protective to the point it got me embarrassed during my time at elementary school.

The loss of children is unbearable. I hope no one every suffer such horror. Hearts of mothers should not be broken or harmed.

What a heartbreaking thing to go through, I can not even begin to imagine how that could feel! It must have been really tough when you're young, a child doesn't understand these things. Wish you and your mother all the best and healthy long happy lives. Thank you for sharing.

It’s a shame you will undoubtedly get some criticism, because Daenerys is actually a super pretty name (regardless of its origin). She’s your kid, and a name like that certainly isn’t hurting her, you do you!

Glad she is doing so well now, sounds like she comes from a family of fighters.

I hate they way they just forgot about Dany after her death. She was arguably the most major character of the series and she gets a shorter death scene than the freakin Iron Throne and then gets dragged off never to be mentioned again?

Dany deserved better. Emilia deserved better. I’m poor as fuck right now, but when I have some extra $ on hand I will definitely donate to her charity. This is a fantastic idea.

Edit: Hijacking this comment to link to the SHIPWISE SCRIPT AUDIOPLAY PROJECT, something else that I hope takes off! It's a fan created audioplay of u/GenghisKhaleesi's beautiful rendition of season 8 (written before the actual season aired). If you are an aspiring voice actor, SFX artist, or any other kind of creative, come on board!

This whole season has been one of the most wholesome outrages I've seen tbh. I can't remember any other case where people can both hate a creator/writing but love the actors, music, costume/prop design and much more.

Let's support Emilia with her cause to show she's not at fault, she put all her heart into it :)

The other seasons had some issues, but nothing like character assassination. I had stayed out of the angry rants and stuff until this season. Everyone kinda shook their fist at the inconsistencies of season 7 but none of that ruined the season as a whole.

The mob is usually a lot more vitriolic than this sub has been. It’s honestly one of the better outrages I’ve seen on the internet.

But yeah, I’m sure a lot of production are displeased with the reaction. Anyone who spent 10 years on a project would be when people call it trash. But that’s how television works, if people hate it they hate it.

I think one of the most helpful things you can do is keep posting positive things about her on social media. Watch movies / shows she’s putting out. Seems simple but the Crazy Days and Nights / Enty podcast said that she has invested a ton of money in PR because projects like GoT tend to be very hard to follow up. I think it’s a smart strategy. You can help her to line up more work by posting and tagging production companies to let them know you want to pay to see more of Emilia in the future

In lieu of updating the main post (i’m currently on mobile and don’t want to fuck up the formatting by accident) I wanted to share this article Stephanie from heavy.com just posted. Stephanie was the only one out of tens, TENS of journalists I reached out to who previously wrote about the petition and actually took an interest in covering this story. She does a great job conveying the message - please do give it a read! I mentioned Sophie, Kit and the misconception of the fundraiser being an “apology” for the petition.

Oh and since People magazine and other outlets keep misrepresenting the intention, I’ve gone ahead and updated the fundraiser description, right slap bang at the top. #NOTANAPOLOGY

And finally, if you’re not in a position to donate, DO NOT FUCKING FEEL BAD. Lots of people comparing the number of donations to the number of upvotes. Lots of cunts. I know what it’s like to count pennies to survive. You’re all doing what you can with your updoots and shares. I’m fucking grateful for all of you. We’ve done a good thing here.

Even though it’s for Emilia’s charity, it really is in honour of them all. I hope in particular it reaches Sophie Turner who unfortunately has been trolled for her knee-jerk reaction to the petition, and Kit Harington who recently checked into rehab for stress. Sophie has spoken about reactions to the show affecting her mental health in the past, and Kit likewise spoke of getting panic attacks imagining of how the ending would be received. It’s really sad. I stand by all the critiques I’ve made of the show, but none of the fans’ disappointment is aimed at them. I hope they understand that.”

Here's the full list of questions & answers as promised! i really tried to add a "kinda forgot" reference somewhere, it would’ve been the icing on the cake, but couldn't fit it in without shoehorning. I also really wanted to talk about fanservice and how cleganebowl was a meme D&D didn’t understand but, again… constraints. They didn't post the majority of this anyway but still got the message pretty well!

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What prompted you to start this fundraiser?

It was a culmination of a lot of things. Partly I thought it would be a nice “thank you and farewell” tribute from the fans to the cast & crew, especially with all the negative reaction this last season has received. Partly we wanted to send a message that even though fans have been very vocal in their disappointment with the conclusion of the series, none of that is directed at the cast and crew - all of whom did an incredible job bringing Westeros to life. But mostly, and this is the reason I chose SameYou to fundraise for, I have a great deal of love and respect for Emilia Clarke, especially since opening up about her health struggles. In interviews after the finale she spoke about how much of herself she put into her character, and how upset she was at the prospect of people hating Daenerys. There’s this one line she said.. “You go on set and play a badass and you walk through fire and that became the thing that saved me from considering my own mortality.” And at the end of the interview she walks away, but then turns back to say “I stand by Daenerys. I stand by her! I can’t not.” It was adorable. So the fundraiser kind of to let her know hey, don’t worry. We stand by Daenerys too.

When did you first get the idea to start it?

I was just browsing reddit for memes but Emilia’s post-finale interviews kept playing on my mind. She wasn’t informed about Dany’s evil turn until shortly before filming season 8, and it seemed like she really struggled to come to terms with it. Then I saw this post and it was kind of the straw that broke the camel’s back, so I decided I wanted to make a sweet gesture whilst also meaningfully helping those who need it. And reddit is a place where these things do take off, so I made a post in r/freefolk asking if people would donate and they did. Now we’ve raised £20K, and I hope that number keeps climbing.

How much was it a response to the predominantly negative reaction online to the show’s final season?

I wouldn’t call it a response because most of the people donating are the same ones who feel the final season was not up to standard. The negative reaction has mostly been directed at the two people who promised to be far away from the internet and drunk, so it’s been left to the cast to handle the questions. Unfortunately a few of them chose to comment on something a million people backed without even reading what it was about. When there’s this much backlash from dedicated fans, you should probably hear what they have to say. It was never as reductive as simply “not liking the ending”.

What was your reaction to Emilia Clarke’s essay about her health struggles?

At first, it was shock. Emilia is always so animated and friendly in interviews, you’d never think she was suffering with serious health problems all this time. What struck me the most was how frankly she spoke of her mortality; that she was not only afraid but convinced she would die. In her delirium at one point after an excruciating operation, she even asked medical staff to let her die. And yet despite everything she managed to survive. So then the shock turned to admiration; she looked death in the face twice, yet here she stands. Not only has she now got one of the most iconic roles in history under her belt, but she’s raising awareness and funds for neurorehabiliation too. For that, I think Emilia is an incredible role model.

In your opinion and experience, why has the fan community reacted so negatively to the final season?

This is a really broad question and difficult to answer faithfully. For the most part I think people are disappointed not with the ending, but rather the execution. Even the most positive reviews of S8 will concede that it felt very rushed. But even beyond the pace, there was a lot that made this season difficult viewing. Watching characters you’ve seen grow for 8 years suddenly act illogically and irrationally, throwing all character progression, in-universe consistency and established laws of consequence out of the window - all in favour of shock and spectacle is… frustrating to say the least. Character-driven plots, complex and intricate storytelling, captivating dialogue - these are the things that drew audiences in and captivated us in the earlier seasons, but they were nowhere to be found in S8. Characters barely even had conversations, they just stared at eachother moodily or spoke in exposition. Not to mention the gaping plotholes this season has left behind.

If we’re being honest, the quality of writing on Game of Thrones has been steadily declining since Season 4, or Season 6 if we’re being generous. But while other seasons were given the benefit of the doubt, because we assumed the ultimate payoff would be in the final stretch, there’s no shield from scrutiny that Season 8 can hide behind. It’s over, and that’s all we’ll ever get. It feels hollow. All threads that were never explored, plots teased that never came to fruition, and huge questions that went unanswered are now left hanging over the series like a dead crow. For people who kept watching after Ned Stark was beheaded, it was never about wanting a happy ending or seeing character arcs tied up with pretty bows. What we did want was narrative sense and continuity; don’t tell us all the Dothraki died at Winterfell only to have them multiply at Kings Landing then quietly disappear when Daenerys is killed. It’s careless to the point of being insulting, both to the intelligence of the viewer and to the efforts of everyone who worked on the series. Every single department on Game of Thrones showed up and showed out. The visual effects were incredible, the costumes, the scoring, the set design, the performances.. These people were the only ones who stopped the whole thing from from looking like a bad cartoon, and they deserved better than the script they were given.

What has the show, and particularly the character of Daenerys, meant to you personally?

The show has been part of our lives for almost a decade. A big chunk of that for me was binge-rewatching to procrastinate through university, and lots of time spent reading theories and laughing at memes. It meant staying up until 2am in the UK to avoid spoilers then using them as blackmail the next morning. It’s introduced me to the books, to other works of sci-fi/fantasy and to a few new friends along the way too.

As for Daenerys, especially since Emilia’s essay, she symbolizes something so much more to me. Daenerys, like Emilia, is a fighter and a survivor. There’s a lot to be learned her story and I can’t wait to revisit it in future.

How did you feel about season 8? What did you think of Dany’s final act (her dark turn and ultimate death) in particular?

Season 8 is definitely some of the best acting we’ve seen from Emilia. I wish we could have spent more time really exploring Daenerys’ alienation, paranoia and eventual decent into cruelty, because as it stands the character we saw torching Kings Landing wasn’t Daenerys. I don’t know who that was and that’s the case for a lot of the characters this season. They were unrecognizable. As far as I’m concerned, the series ended with Daenerys sailing to Westeros with her fleet and her 3 dragons, all of whom are very much alive and fire-breathing.

Did you sign or have a role in starting the fan petition to remake season 8?

I kept seeing people on twitter sneer and deride the petition, saying it was made by angry entitled fans. But I read it and it’s pretty obvious it’s a joke at the writers’ expense, so I did my bit to push it to 1 million.

What would you want to say to Emilia if she read this?

I would say: Emilia, you're a badass, a beautiful soul and the Queen I choose… Aegon who? Bran WHO? I don’t know her.

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So, what should our next steps be, how can we make this thing keep growing? Indie Wire have also picked up the story! Some celebrity signal boosting would be great right now \cough**

A heartfelt thank you to u/elle_ellaria, not only for organizing this fundraiser but also for handling all the media inquiries with 100% class. Your responses were perfect! It's really inspiring that you were able to do this, and you represented the fanbase wonderfully. Please give yourself a pat on the back. I'm sure Emilia will be so thankful to the fans, and especially you, when she sees this!

You did a great job at conveying the majority opinion on r/freefolk! So did the article for the most part, I wish he had included more on your answer to the 4th question. Only because I don't want people to read the article and go "See, it's because Dany got an ending her fans didn't want!" At this point, idk how anyone can come to that conclusion but people are dense. Oh, and I love your “Emilia, you’re a badass, a beautiful soul and the Queen I choose… Aegon who? Bran WHO?“ 😂

Great interview u/elle_ellaria. You're a good person. And with that act you now own plenty of great Karma points. I mean real life Karma not Reddit Karma. You just added a sizable chunk of bricks to your heavenly home.

You did a great job - and the article is really good. The one thing I wish they would've included is your answer in its entirety to the question "what did you think of Dany's final act". Your answer captures the crux of the problem with the ending and S8 in general.

EDIT - thank you for the silver. I’m looking to buy a castle in the Reach.

I’m so glad that you became our de facto spokesperson for this. Your answers are so spot on and I think really capture the sentiments of a lot of the freefolk (myself included). The cast and crew did a phenomenal job with what they were given.

Amazing job on the fundraiser, too. There’s been so much emotion surrounding the end of this series and how the stories of the characters that meant so much to so many people were handled. It’s great that people are channeling all of that emotion into something positive.

You really did an amazing job at communicating the criticism in a really polite but effective way, thank you. It's sad that they cut off some of the most important bits, but I understand why they did that and at the end the message passed. Thank you again for pushing us into doing something really good while also giving us opportunity to explain our criticism and to say "fuck you D&D" one last time.

I really hope press doesn't pass this as "the fans wanted to apologise/compensate for their disrespect"

Yeah, I understand what you are feeling, but in my opinion, let them do their do their stupid claims, they'll find a way to do that anyway, after all this sub has more mediatic power than a lot of those clickbait news providers. The risk is to water down the good message of this campaign. Maybe you can consider that if the thing escalates and gets completely misinterpreted. Anyway aside from the messages and the media reports about this, noone can take away from you, and all of the people who donated, the positivity and the good that we have done. Some people who are suffering from brain health issues will have better recovery and ultimately a better life because of you. Even the worst liar won't be able to take this away from you

Keep the drive for another a couple of days to see how much you can raise? I noticed that a few people on twitter commenting that they can't open the page (including me, I tried many times with mobile phone and laptop, but without any success)

I work in fundraising so I’m biased, but this is one of the best things I’ve seen on this sub. (There are some really good memes so I can’t say for sure this is #1). It sends the message that everyone here legitimately supports the actors, and it can make a huge difference in people’s lives. Thank you for doing this.

yes, to clarify originally in the post I wrote about how much influence and far reaching this sub is especially since the petition took off in here, i wanted it to be a nice gesture specifically from the freefolk. Now I've posted to r/asoiaf and will probably take it to r/gameofthrones eventually so I edited the wording.

mods i know you've been told to keep the brigading post pinned, could we take it in turns to pin the emilia & kit fundraisers and edit each posts so they both have links for those looking for them? especially with the last update, i think most haven't seen it u/_varamyr_fourskins_u/leafeon123

Yeah gimme a minute. Makin breakfast. Tryin to figure shit out with the other mods before they go to sleep. Needs to find a decent way to handle this mess. Fuckin Kneeler mods. Why couldn't they be less cunty, then there wouldn't be any of this shit to deal with.

Holly shit!! That hbo idea whoever came up with it is genius, i will write a letter in the morning, its 3am now my brain doesnt work that well to write stuff, this is no1 priority now!

Well its been a bit lonely here, people dont talk a lot in the comments now since the post is unpinned and looks like the r/got post linking to this post doesn't really affect anything. I dont really know if the mods are doing anything to give a link to this post, they said they will, ive written to them several times about it, probably already im annoying af, but i just want to squeeze the maximum from this charity. Also your dracarys link is a bit messed up, i suggest using direct link so it can be opened in the post rather then having to leave it to see it. Like this one Dracarys

I want to see this community known for this. I feel the petition is a legit message to send about the writing, but this message is a much more wholesome way to define that we loved the performances, and the dedication these professionals gave, and our complaints are not with them. It also shows that we're willing to reward that effort not only with our HBO subscription fees, but with a little extra in their honor, for a good cause. Great idea!

Could not have said it better. It's sad many cast members feel like this sub and the petition are shitting on the hard work of the cast and crew, when our disappointment is not in how they executed this story (brilliantly), but with the poorly written, rushed story they were asked to execute. I like the message this sends. We have over 900k members, and the petition has nearly 1.5 million signatories, a large portion of which are mostly upset by the writing of Daenerys turn to a flying Stalin. $1 from every single one could send a loud and loving message to the cast and crew, just as the petition sends one to the showrunners.

I've thrown in $50 to a few rounds of fundraising she has done on Omaze! Didn't get to see how much that raised though, hope this takes off and she knows we still love her and Daenerys, I know that was a big concern for her that people would hate Daenerys </3. We still love you Khaleesi!

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY

I spent 9 years suffering from a neurological disorder and every year since recovering.

While the suffering was obviously 'worse', the recovery has been far harder. While not unique to brain/neuro diseases, suffering a severe or chronic disease where you outwardly look 'normal' is very isolating.

Rebuilding your health, social/family life, career and mental wellbeing can be challenging or impossible even if you live an advantaged life. Along the way I met many people that didn't or couldn't receive support.

I can personally attest that access to effective support services can be life changing/saving. For me, the loss of my pre-illness self perceived identity has been the biggest challenge. This feeling of being unable to be the person you were before made the name of the charity 'SameYou' ring very true.

I can't speak to the quality of the SameYou charity, or the specific services they are providing. I googled it extensively recently but I didn't find much as it is quite new. At the time this was enough to make me reconsider donating. However, this post OP has provided the motivation for me to make a donation.

If anyone can share links that provide transparency on the administration and specific actions/services of the charity it would be appreciated.

Thank you Emilia for having the resilience to bring Dany's character to life, share your experience and raise awareness for an issue I care deeply about.

PS being rich and famous surely helps... but Bobby B, I say fuck maintaining the appearance of normality while going through that shit as one of the most idolised people in the world in the age of social media.

I donated. Dany got me through the darkest chapter of my life. I suffered a mini stroke at 19 and Dany’s journey was one of the biggest things that motivated me to power through it. Little did I know Emilia had gone through a similar but worse thing just a year before.

I thing #ThankYouEmilia is the best one. We want to keep the focus on the actess. It's really sweet actually. You can put a "Other ways to help" at the bottom of your post. Some younger people can't donate but they sure can spread hashtags on Twitter ✊. Hopefully a big account will catch on like they did with the petition

This is really nice and I hope it gains traction. I work in brain research and before that worked in neuro rehabilitation so I've shared it around my networks a bit too. I'm surprised I only heard about this now!

The comments complaining that Emilia has enough money anyway, I find embarrassing. It reads like envy. Just think about Emilia when she first had this disease in the first season. Before that she was unemployed. And just at the beginning of the show, the fees were not so big. It could also have been that she loses the role. And then she would never have been so successful. She was very lucky and she seems to know that as well. Only because one is rich, one is not a worse person...

right. it's sad, people really have that mentality. also she worked for that money just like everyone else. she genuinely cares about this cause, and i noticed its a lot of healthcare causes like she helps nurses too cause they took good care of her father in his final days and she's grateful.

I’ve done my part and donated. Because of it, I do feel better after how disappointing this series finale been for me. I didn’t realize I cared this much about a show or a group of fictional characters...

Emilia Clarke is truly a remarkable human being and I appreciate what she’s done with Daenerys in the course of seven seasons. I am purposely excluding season 8 because of what happened to her character in a span of two episodes and it was terrible, frustrating, and even disrespectful to her character and to Emilia. I’ve been so frustrated for the past 6 weeks with how the show progressed that I was wanting or rather needing to change my focus towards something positive. So here I am...

Considering I’ve also had my share of close call with death in a span of a decade due to my health, I want to do my part and give a little for a good cause and hopefully make a difference in one person’s life.

This is a great idea - I posted a few days ago about generally showing some appreciation to the cast & crew (especially after the misunderstandings about who the criticism is aimed at) but doing this for charity is a great way to really turn it into a positive.

It would be great to turn her name into one like Dany's, with all the titles - it might make a good headline and tie together the two concepts, of celebrating both her, her acting and her charity work, e.g: Emilia of House Clarke, Saver of Lives & Mother of Dragons. (That's not great but you get the idea.)

bitch i am literally shaking rn i was not expecting this!!!!11 i know she was aware but actually seeing her be so thankful and saying we gave her a wrap gift. my heart! and lena headey liked the video too! and we jumped to 45k! we’ve fucking done something beautiful!!

I remember when you first posted that post, hoping someone else would do the work for you since you didn't really know what to say or how to make it happen. And then you just did it, and look at where we are now. Not long before this makes the round in news stories and the amount gets even higher. Goes to show how malleable the world really is, eh? :)

Not to say that the FreeFolk don't deserve credit, they really do - but you started that fire. And now it's the biggest fire the north has ever seen.

My favourite part about this is that this isn't an apology for the petition but an explanation of it. Thanks to so many misinformed and ignorant people spreading misinformation about that petition based on its title or the headline they read about it on, it became something it was never meant to be.

This, in a way, proves what r/freefolk is all about. Memes and shitposts, sure. But first and above all else, passion. We're all passionate about GoT and ASOIAF. And we're grateful to the ones who deserve that gratitude, who worked hard and reciprocated that passion with passion of their own. D&D clearly don't care and brushed off the fans who lifted the show to where it is now for the sake of casuals; but now the casuals have moved on and those "true fans" (so to speak) are cleaning up the mess in the wake of it. And we're celebrating the people who gave it all they could.

I just sent off my answers to EW, so hopefully we'll see that article up soon! I really hope they post everything I said without editing it too much, I tried very hard to be concise in order to avoid that. Can't wait for you all to see it!

I'm one of the non-fans who never paid much attention to GoT until my facebook feed blew up after the penultimate episode with "wtf did they do with Dany?" and I kind of got curious, wikiwalked a bunch and ended up lurking these subs by following the smell of salt and memes.

When I saw this fundraiser, I waffled a bit, all "but this looks more like a fandom thing".

Then I was all "hey, Emilia is clearly a wonderful person who's been through more shit than I can wrap my brain around and this is a worthy cause if I ever saw one" and donated anyway. Thank you freefolk for giving me warm fuzzy feels.

Wow look at this paragraph from People's article about Kit's fundraiser:

"Supportive viewers and audiences raised money for actress Emilia Clarke’s ‘charity’, which was to remake the show’s finale. Then, fans raised another $45,000 for Clarke’s more serious charity SameYou, which supports neurorehabilitation for stroke and brain injuries."

The first part.
Wow just wow, that is absolutely new level of absurd, manipulation and disinformation or monumental incompetence. No words.

LETS DO IT, FUNNEL YOUR RAGE INTO CONSTRUCTIVE CHANGE AND GOOD CAUSES 👏👏👏

Donating to this charity does more than the money you probably spent subscribing to HBO for this show.

This would be a fantastic way for fans to collectively thank Emilia for everything she’s done for this show.

Perhaps this is a dumb idea but it might get some positive articles and press, but do you think we could get a tag trending on twitter that’s something like #/ThankYouGoTCast ? I want to see some worldwide love for everyone who deserves to be praised for their hard work over so many years.

Among all this negativity, we never really took a collective moment to say thank you.

I could not have asked for a more perfect Daenerys. Emilia, if you are somehow reading this, thank you so much for all your work and dedication. Your acting has been consistently outstanding, and even in the last two episodes you did the best you could with what little you were given to work with.

its soo cool that EW is reaching out to you. Hope you make it clear to them the message of this movement is to help the charity and also showing love and support to emilia. And also remind them to put out statement about the petition and let them know we do not hate the cast and the crew. Do it for the freefolk!

“the mods of this sub decided send some emails to HBO and Time Warner executives, telling them about the fundraiser and letting them know now would be a great time to match the donations!”

If they do donate color me suprised.
All I can picture is HBO sitting their with the list of cancelled subscriptions in one hand and the charity drive in the other like ‘so thats where all my money is going’

I made my contribution to the hat a couple of days ago, but I've been following the campaign closely since then. The steady stream of support and the outpouring of kind words to Emilia and the Thrones cast and crew make me feel all warm and fuzzy. You guys are the best :)

yeah i've been thinking to edit the wording of the fundraiser page or to add something that will make that clear. certainly if anyone else reaches out with questions it'll be the first thing i emphasise.

Being able to channel my rage into something positive like this and telling Emilia that we stand with Daenerys too is allowing me to move on from that semi depressive state that Season 8 left me in. Thank you so much!

Last week, it was reported that Game Of Thrones devotees had organised a fundraiser for Emilia’s charity, SameYou, intended as a “gesture of love and support”, and to show their issues with the show’s final series did not lie with the cast.

the bold text is where they link to the interview with Sophie Turner about all that disrespectful stuff, clearly making a focus that this petition was not intended to slam the cast. Good to know huffpost is doing something right.

I can't afford to donate much and both paypal and google pay are timing out before I can put a donation through right now (put it in GBP, I think it's just a bad wifi) but as someone who has been struggling with neurological health issues since my late teens (brain stem infection and severe serotonin toxicity syndrome survivor, now living with loss of brain tissue due to multiple sclerosis lesions and this sweet little issue called 'psuedotumor cerebri' that gives all the symptoms of a tumor without a physical mass that can be removed, as it's just my body overproducing cerebrospinal fluid and I need to get a lumbar puncture to drain the excess at least once a year woo), it's SO important that high profile people speak up about their own issues because knowing we're not alone and having the people we encounter on a daily basis be even a LITTLE more educated on the struggles we constantly face makes such a huge difference.
when Selma Blair came out about her MS diagnosis late last year, I got SUCH an outpour of support from unexpected directions, be it people I hadn't spoken to since high school reaching out on facebook or relatives who haven't been in close contact with me or my mom for some time giving one of us a call to let us know they're nearby if we need anything, be it help mowing a lawn or someone to pet sit if I have to have an extended hospital stay. all people who were aware of my diagnosis, but until they saw that Good Morning America interview that Blair did while suffering a mild flare, they didn't fully grasp how frustratingly helpless it can leave me during flares or pseudoflares (which are when I don't have active lesions causing new damage, but my immune system fighting off something else like an infection or head cold causes symptom flares and can leave me with sudden and severe loss of strength or sensation in my extremities, leaving me unable to do simple tasks like washing my hair or preparing food, sometimes for weeks at a time). I've been unable to work for the most part since 2014, and I'm still fighting with various government agencies in a paperwork war because they don't like to give out SSDI or other disability related financial support to people under 50 unless they meet certain inarguable criteria (being completely blind or deaf, paraplegia, quadriplegia, and amputation of at least one limb being the only things that seem to get approved on the first application).
as a fan of both Emilia's performance in GoT and of her using her popularity as a platform to raise awareness about the very real and often silenced or sidestepped issue of neurological health problems in young adults, I am so happy this is getting traction!

"They've since scurried away to avoid the backlash they knew was inevitable, but the actors are getting the brunt of it." i loove that the article put this..anything that can show our (fans) disdain towards dnd and NOT the cast and crews is good enough 😆. And i am so proud that eventhough we manage to make a viral rewrite petition for a worse finale, we also bring up a charity campaign. Anyone who think we just live in a fantasy world and not caring about anything else is wrong.

Lovely post, as much as I relish the idea of sending a message with the petition, doing something positive like this is heartwarming and will show this community in a good light. Thanks for doing this :)

This has been a shit week for me but this fundraiser has really lifted my spirits. I love that Emilia's charity is starting out with a bang and I love that she probably now realizes how much we appreciate her, both as an actress and force for good in this weird, often scary world. Thanks again, u/elle_ellaria for leading the way with this.

Believe me guys something died inside me after watching last season. There’s still that emptiness inside which I’m trying my best to fill. It was a disaster. A complete absolute ruin of something which took years to build and death of sheer determination of all the cast and crew. What have you done D&D.

So been a Freefolk lingerer for years but finally feel I have something to contribute - I just spotted Emilia coming out of the same cinema as me in Kings Cross. I just couldn’t play it cool. I had to say something. First thing I could blurt out was “Freefolk love you! You’ve been amazing”. Not my finest work, but hey!

I let Greyworm slide when I saw him on the tube a few months ago, but I just couldn’t walk away this time.

She and her smile are as amazing as expected, and she’s even more miniature in the flesh. Love her.

I was about to unsubscribe until I read this. Such a reasonable response. I loved this sub for its creative material and it isn’t that anymore (kind of like the show). I was about to leave, but you made me remember why I love it here so much. Thanks mate.

i hated how sophie turner and kit harrington acted. that is the opposite of how Emilia clark handled the aftermath and thats why i love her as a human! also its a good way to show the rest of the actors that we do actually like them and to those two knuckle heads to feel a bit of “bells” shame! shame! shame! for not taking the fans perspective into consideration

This is awesome! I couldn't think of a better way to pay tribute to Emilia and all her hard work as Daenerys, than this. My dad had a brain aneurysm back in 2003 and watching him suffer through such intense agony has been seared in my mind to this day. We thought we were going to lose him forever, but thankfully, after hours of surgery, he pulled through and is still here with us today. It took almost two weeks for a group of doctors to properly diagnose him while he was slowly hemmoraging and by the time he went into surgery, it burst and he almost didn't make it.

It's crazy to think Emilia suffered through this twice, especially after watching season 2. She is such an amazing and inspiring actress and human being, so seeing you and everyone pull this together in her honor is seriously hitting me in the feels. ❤️

after a lot of suggestions that i make it explicit where the donations are coming from (freefolk/people who signed the petition etc) i've tweaked the main write up. Is this better?

This fundraiser began inr/freefolk, the same subreddit the now-infamous petition originated from. Since the tongue-in-cheek nature of that petition has flown over a lot peoples' heads, to the point that it's prompted backlash from some of the cast, we wanted to show that Game of Thrones fans appreciate the hard work of the incredible cast & crew despite their constraints. Any disappointment we felt with the conclusion of the series was not in them, but rather in the potential that was lost due to the rushed pace of storytelling.

And so, as a gesture of love and support from the fandom to the entire cast & crew - but also particularly to the woman who poured her very soul into her character, who delivered passionate speeches in High Valyrian and Dothraki in between questioning her very mortality and inspired so many of us with her resilience - I am setting up this page as a public support of her charity, SameYou.

#ThankYouEmilia for bringing Daenerys to life. Thank you Lena, Nikolaj, Peter, Gwendoline, Jacob, Nathalie, Alfie, Kit, Sophie, Maisie, Isaac, Liam, Iain, Conleth and the rest of the cast. Thank you to all the crew, the special effects departments and set designers, costume designers and casting, musicians and technicians, the camera crew, the stunt co-ordinators, the long list of people who've devoted themselves to giving everything they could to lift this juggernaut of a series to its lofty levels of success and attention. You all deserve to be recognised. Thank you.

​

I've also linked some of the other castmembers charities if people wished to donate. Feel like I've covered all the necessary bases here.